Rediscovering our magical past at Uisneach

How joyful and deeply symbolic it seemed to see the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, stand with 1,500 people from all over Ireland in a Co Westmeath field on Saturday night.

In one day, we got to see two different Irelands. The one of suspicion, conformity, and fear which was reflected in an allegation of blasphemy which sent shock waves across the world; and the wondrous joy of our ancient customs which came alive on a high plateau.

The Hill of Usineach, as seen from a drone on Saturday night
Photo by Declan Murray, @Skylab

Of course, we weren’t just in any old field. It was here at the Hill of Uisneach, the very heart of Ireland, that our ancestors used to congregate in their thousands every year to celebrate the onset of summer.

Representatives of all the Irish provinces came together at this magical place to light a huge symbolic fire on this plateau 600 feet above sea level where all four provinces, and 20 counties, can be seen on a clear day.

On Saturday, farmers, Druids, Shamen, healers, Christians, non-believers, and the simply curious from all four corners of the land – and some from much further afield – congregated to witness the lighting of the huge fire under a moonlit sky.

As MC Ruairi McKiernan joyfully announced, President Higgins was the first political leader in 1,000 years to light the flame on a sacred hill whose significance had been almost forgotten for generations of Irish people.

After spending two or three hours mingling with the joyous crowd, it felt like a truly emotional reawakening to the joys and wonders of the beautiful culture of our ancestors.

The President’s visit had been scheduled for weeks or even months in advance, but what a significant day, week, and month President Higgins chose to illuminate the sky on the sacred hill.

Earlier the same day, the entire western world was reeling from the news that British comedian Stephen Fry was being investigated by the Gardai for alleged blasphemy.

What had he said to cause so much controversy? On a television show about faith on national broadcaster RTE, he had told host Gay Byrne that he did not respect a God who could cause so much injustice and pain in the world.

“I’d say ‘Bone cancer in children, what’s that about?’,” he said. “How dare you create a world in which there is so much misery that is not our fault. It’s not right. It’s utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?”

Hardly earth-shattering stuff, but enough for an anonymous man in Co Clare to report Fry to his local Gardai for blasphemy after watching the TV programme, The Meaning of Life, in February 2015.

On Saturday night, I sat beside a Shaman from Wexford, who regaled me with tales of the wonders of the pre-Christian Irish, and she expressed shock that Ireland had blasphemy laws which date from as recently as 2009.

President Michael D. Higgins lit the flame
on the sacred hill. Photo: Verona McQuaid

What kind of State would consider a criminal investigation and a possible €25,000 fine for a man whose only alleged “crime” was to ask what kind of a god would create a world so full of injustice and pain?

It was hard to believe a British TV star with a love of Ireland, a man who has campaigned in support of our native language, was facing an investigation for criminal blasphemy in 21st century Ireland.

I felt almost embarrassed to be Irish when I was asked about the case by a couple of New Zealanders at the lake near the top of the hill.

In the same week, our TDs (Members of Parliament) voted to retain the daily prayer before Dail sittings by 97 votes to 18. They had rejected a Sinn Fein motion to replace the divisive prayer with 60 seconds of silent reflection.

These same politicians are now wondering whether a United Ireland is on the cards in the uncertain future brought about by the Brexit vote in Britain last year.

The Dail vote and the blasphemy case had forced people to question whether Ireland really was a welcoming place for Muslims, Buddhists, or non-believers in 2017.

So now members of our national parliament can face expulsion for refusing to stand and observe a prayer which ends with the words “Through Christ Our Lord, Amen”.

Hardly a vote which reflects a modern, pluralist, multi-racial state, or an incentive for one million Unionists to join what used to be referred to as a “priest-ridden” state south of the border in the post-Brexit world.

Attending the fire ceremony in the heart of
ancient Ireland. Photo by Verona MQuaid

In the same month, we have seen ownership of the National Maternity Hospital being given over to an order of nuns who have yet to adequately compensate victims of clerical abuse.

And, here in Galway, people are still getting over the shock of last month’s confirmation that 796 “illegitimate” babies may have been buried in unmarked graves.

Nobody knows how many are buried there, or how many may have been shipped off to the US for adoption, because the Bon Secours nuns did not see fit to dignify their burial grounds with their names or some small gesture to remember their short lives.

If Ireland needs to embrace all tribes and people are to live together in harmony in an uncertain post-Brexit 21st century, we could start by learning from our past.

On Saturday, I found myself going back in time by about 2,500 or 3,000 years and, along with hundreds of others, awakening to the joys and wonders of our own indigenous culture.

And wondering why the teachers hardly ever talked about the Hill of Uisneach, and its hugely important place in the Irish psyche, during my days in a Catholic school in the 1980s.

There was a magical atmosphere at the Bealtaine celebrations
which date back thousands of years. Photo by Verona McQuaid

Irish myths and legends almost died with our native language and it’s to the huge credit of local guides like Marty Mulligan and Justin Moffatt that we are beginning to rediscover the wonders of our past.

Justin and Marty run regular tours of the hill throughout the year and organised a spectacular Bealtaine Festival on Saturday night. It seemed only fitting that the President of Ireland was in attendance to be reminded of our island’s spiritual past.

Our ancestors lit huge fires on this particular hill for centuries and it sent a shiver down many a spine to see President Higgins march up the torch-lit hill before illuminating the huge bonfire which had been assembled for days beforehand.

A huge, joyous roar erupted from the crowd, accompanied by hypnotic Shamanic drumming which gave us a real taste of what the atmosphere must have been like up on the hill hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

According to the Book of Invasions, the first Bealtaine fire was kindled by a Druid called Mide, at Uisneach, the navel or centre point of Ireland.

As the fire blazed, four of us sneaked off in the moonlight to the Cat Stone, a 20 foot tall limestone boulder which is said to be the burial place of the Danann Goddess, Eriu, who gave her name to Ireland.

Touching the stone, it felt really emotional to connect with the ancestors at the place where representatives of Ireland’s five provinces (Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster, and Mide) used to meet up to settle their disputes and pass new laws.

The Cat Stone was known as the access point or entrance to Mide, Ireland’s ancient and almost-forgotten fifth province. Mide is now part of Leinster, incorporating counties Meath and Westmeath.

There’s a ringfort, walkways, and an ancient road towards the Hill of Tara spread around the scenic grounds and it was truly magical to stand there in wonder and mingle with friendly people from all over Ireland and beyond on Saturday night.

Visitors to Uisneach are captivated by the hill's connection
to Ireland's pre-Christian past.

In the semi-darkness, a few hundred feet from the huge bonfire, we walked through the field where the wonderful game of hurling was invented. 

It was here the men of the ancient provinces learned to settle their differences with sticks and a ball in perhaps the fastest game in the world.

The Bealtaine festival doesn’t feature any big bands, mad drinking sessions, corporate sponsors, or litter louts, but its mixture of frantic drummers, beautiful singers, and whirling dancers in majestic costumes, really seemed to connect us in an emotional way with our mystical past.

And it seemed really appropriate that our President, himself a poet and a lover of our ancient games, was there to light the fire in this year of all years.

By reconnecting with our magical and mystical ancestors, perhaps we can also discover a future Ireland we can all be proud of, where all sorts of people mix together in joy and harmony in celebration of the wonders of our land.

Uisneach is a place of wonder and joy. So many people commented to me about the magical energy around the site on Saturday night.

It felt as though we were rediscovering a lost past, in a land in which people came together to celebrate their love of stories and song, and somehow, together, all 1,500 of us were coming home.

The Cat Stone: said to be the burial ground of the goddess, Eiru,
who gave her name to what is now called Ireland.

Guided tours of the Hill of Uisneach take place every Wednesday to Sunday. Tours commence from the public car park at 1pm. To book a tour in advance, please check out the website www.uisneach.ie. Please note that the sacred site is not open to the public at other times, as it is a private working farm. The guides, Justin Moffatt and Marty Mulligan, are out of this world!


Ciaran Tierney is a journalist, blogger, and digital storyteller, based in Galway, Ireland. To hire a content writer or a social media expert, contact Ciaran via his Facebook page

Here's a feature on Uisneach I wrote for IrishCentral.com in March: http://www.irishcentral.com/travel/travel-tips/a-visit-to-the-heart-of-ireland-the-hill-of-uisneach-photos

Keep buying the leprechauns

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The horror of Syria: Irish people still don't connect
goings-on at Shannon with the "war on terror"

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechauns . . . “

In October 2016, a significant increase in the number of US soldiers passing through Shannon Airport was noted by activists who monitor activities at the airport on a daily basis.

The increased activity has been linked to an onslaught against the Iraqi city of Mosul and a marked growth in the number of troops on the ground in both Syria and Iraq.

As Shannon’s role in the US-led “war on terror” enters its 16th year, it’s remarkable that their presence barely merits a mention in the Irish media.

No Garda has ever searched a plane, despite concerns that dangerous chemicals such as white phosphorous and prisoners on their way to and from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba may have been renditioned through Shannon.

We have to rely on the likes of Wikileaks and Trojan investigative work by Shannonwatch peace activists, who track the movement of military and chartered planes, if we are to have any inkling of what’s going on.

Marching for peace at Shannon Airport

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechauns …”

It can be disconcerting to fly out of Shannon on a quiet midweek evening and find yourself surrounded by hundreds of US soldiers in uniforms.

If you are flying to London on a Tuesday evening, for example, you can sometimes feel like the only civilian in a military zone. 

When you look at the soldiers, you can guess whether they are coming or going depending on the mood.

If they are on their way home, there is a celebratory air in the terminal building as they queue up to buy leprechaun hats or bottles of duty free Irish whiskey they’d be unlikely come across in Syria or Iraq.

They queue to use the public phones and promise their loved-ones, excitedly, that they will be home in just a few hours.

If they are on their way to the Middle East, the mood can be a lot more sombre. There is an eerie silence across the terminal as they ponder on the long trips away from home.

It’s 15 years now since former US President George W. Bush asked “neutral” little Ireland to facilitate his troops in their endless global war.

As we celebrate 100 years since the Easter Rising, it’s incredible that the issue of Ireland’s complicity in war crimes in places like Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan is rarely heard on the national airwaves.

In July of this year, 85 people – including almost a dozen children – lost their lives in a horrific air strike in northern Syria.

The “terrorists” who carried out the attack were members of the US military and could well have passed through Shannon.

The attack wasn’t even mentioned on RTE, the national news station, the following day. It didn’t merit a minute's coverage on the main evening news.

And hardly anyone ever joins up the dots to link the hundreds of US troops passing through Shannon and the appalling atrocities carried out in far-off villages like Tokhar.

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechauns … “

Earlier this month, a peace conference was organised at Shannon to mark 15 years of the airport’s participation in the “war on terror”.

The respected academics and former military men who organise the monthly Shannonwatch protest at the airport decided to mark the anniversary by inviting guest speakers and encouraging debate.

So they decided to book a room.                                    

A small number of TDs joined the Shannonwatch
15th anniversary demonstration this month

And then the hotel cancelled.

They booked another room in another hotel.

And the second hotel cancelled.

And then a third . . . In all, three hotels in the Shannon region suddenly discovered they were “double-booked” when they discovered the theme of the peace conference.

Sure, we can’t criticise the Americans. They are good for business, no matter what the morality of the presence of so many coalition troops in a “neutral” civilian facility.

So the organisers were forced to hold the peace conference in a tent just outside the perimeter of the airport.

Amazingly, some people who travelled to the peace conference found that the rooms they booked in the three hotels were still available that weekend.

As it transpired, by a strange coincidence, only the rooms the organisers had sought for the peace conference were double-booked.

“The fact that three bookings in three different hotels were cancelled to me is an indication of success rather than failure, and the fact that we were harassed by the authorities here this weekend shows that we are making an impact,” said Dr Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch.

Dr Horgan said Irish people had to make a connection between the US military aircraft which land at Shannon and the bombings in Syria or Iraq which sometimes aren’t even reported on our TV news channels.

He doesn’t give up hope that the peace movement will succeed, even though his small group has been protesting every month for the past 15 years.

“But, but . . . what about the Russians?”

Peace activists in Ireland are often accused of being “anti-American” because they protest against attacks carried out by the US military, but seem silent in the face of horrific atrocities carried out by others.

In Syria, for example, the Russians have been linked to war crimes, such as the bombing of hospitals in Aleppo, which are every bit as bad as atrocities carried out by the Americans in Mosul or Tokhar.

I put this point to Dr Horgan during the recent peace conference.

He said that Veterans for Peace and Shannonwatch (he represents both) condemn Russian and Syrian bombings in Aleppo, just as they condemn US bombings in Mosul.

War-torn Aleppo: 2.5 million US soldiers have passed
through Shannon on their way to war over 15 years

“From our perspective in Ireland, killing civilians is always wrong,” he said. “But the main difference is the Russians are not using Shannon Airport in their war in Syria, while the US is using Shannon Airport several times a day at present to refuel its aircraft.”

He expressed fear that Ireland could become a target for terrorists because of Shannon’s role in allowing troops, munitions, and weapons to be transferred to the Middle East for use in war crimes in civilian areas.

“It’s our responsibility as Irish citizens to stop Ireland's very direct involvement in these war crimes being committed by the United States. There is little we can do to stop Russian bombing except to get our Irish Government to use its influence within the UN to get a ceasefire in Syria.

“I am actually fearful. I didn’t go to Dublin on Easter Sunday for the 1916 commemorations because I was afraid it might be a target. I wouldn’t be surprised if Shannon Airport did become a target. At the moment, it is difficult for the terrorist groups to get to Ireland and that’s the only reason, I think, why we’ve avoided an attack so far.”

Shannon “becomes a target” …

Since the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, when the US military first began to use Shannon for refuelling, it has been estimated that over 2.5 million armed US troops have passed through the airport.

In July 2016, the Irish Government confirmed in the Dail – the Irish parliament – that over 25,000 US troops had passed through Shannon in the first six months of this year.

Among the guest speakers during Shannonwatch’s 15th anniversary peace conference was US-born journalist Robert Fantina of the World Beyond War organisation.           

Calling for an end to Shannon Airport's collusion
in the US-led global "war on terror"

He said he was very surprised when he heard of the level of US troop movements through Shannon.

“By allowing US warplanes to land and refuel here, that violates Irish neutrality. Preventing the planes from refuelling here is not only good for Afghanistan or Ireland, it also shows the world that Ireland wants peace and does not support the US war machine,” he said.

He said that all across the world there needed to be a “cultural change” so that people could focus on peace time economies rather than the economies of war. There are strong vested interests in the arms industry who benefit from perpetual wars.

“People in Ireland might think it’s only a plane or two a week passing through, but they need to realise that these  planes are bringing death and destruction to people just like them. Men, women, and children who just want to go to work or school, live ordinary lives, and raise their families, are dying because planes are being allowed to land here,” said Fantina.

“Additionally, because US war planes are allowed to land here, Shannon becomes a target for organisations which are opposed to US militarism. People need to understand that the ‘war on terror’ is really a war of terrorism. Any place, including Shannon, which allows the US to perform those operations is part of that killing.”

“Sure, as long as they keep buying the leprechaun hats in the airport shops, we’ll be grand … !”

And this week, in Tipperary, some insignificant little committee is set to give the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, a "peace prize".

As if they were blissfully aware of all the atrocities his country has carried out - and the innocent lives lost - in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria over the past 15 years.

The whole concept of a US leader flying in to pick up an award in the current climate, days after another appalling attack on civilians in Iraq, devalues the very notion of a "peace prize".

Who cares about villagers in Syria, when the slaughter of 85 of them never even makes it onto our TV screens?

And, sure, isn't it a great way of putting a little Tipperary village on the map?

Sure, it's great to be on such good terms with the Americans, even those who cause endless pain to ordinary, innocent people across the world. But I guess that's another story ...



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The silence is deafening

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There seemed to be almost an eerie silence about a move which could have a profound impact on the Irish media landscape last week.

In the furore which surrounded Brexit, uncertainty over the Irish border, and the Chilcot Inquiry into Tony Blair’s Iraq war, few seemed to notice that global media baron Rupert Murdoch decided to significantly increase his interest in the Irish market.

His News Corporation has decided to buy Belfast’s radio-focused Wireless Group in a £220 million (€257m) deal. It has massive implications for media ownership, and control, in Ireland and should really open up a debate about who controls our mainstream media.

Wireless owns seven radio stations on the island of Ireland, six in the Republic, and runs an advertising sales house in Dublin.

Why is this significant?  
                                                         

The Sun: actively campaigned for a Brexit vote

 Well, Rupert Murdoch already owns The Sun, The Times, and The Sunday Times, London papers with Irish editions.

Suddenly, Irish media interests are going to be concentrated in even fewer hands and Murdoch will have a greater influence on Irish society.

Rupert, of course, knows a thing or two about influence.

His Fox News channel in the US is known across the globe for its partisan support for the Republican Party. Anyone who thinks differently is ridiculed.

In the UK, according to ‘spindoctor’ Alistair Campbell, Murdoch put undue pressure on Prime Minister Tony Blair to go to war in Iraq in 2003. He offered Blair the full support of his newspapers if he took the deeply unpopular decision.

More recently, his papers were hugely influential in pressing for a Brexit vote in the UK. The Sun tabloid led with the front-page headline, "IT'S BORIS DAY”, on the eve of the referendum.

In the midst of a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment following the vote, The Sun printed the following: "Where the Brex was won: Streets full of Polish shops, kids not speaking English... but Union Jacks now flying high again."

Hardly the best message to convey to the readership of a tabloid at a time of heightened tension, racism, and xenophobic attacks, with many immigrants in Britain reported to be living in fear.

For decades now, Murdoch has been widely known as the “kingmaker” in British politics, so much so that his switch in support from the Conservatives to Blair was seen to be hugely significant in determining the outcome of General Elections.

It’s only a few years since his newspapers were the subject of the Levenson Inquiry, which examined allegations of phone-hacking, corrupt payments, and the perversion of the course of justice.

The allegations led to the closure of The News of the World, Britain’s biggest-selling Sunday newspaper.

Murdoch was so upset by all the allegations hovering over News UK that he reinstated Rebekah Brooks, Chief Executive during the phone-hacking days, to the top job in September of last year.
She resigned at the height of the controversy in 2011.

Brooks may have been cleared of all charges, but some top executives at News Corporaiton could still face corporate criminal charges, and the incidents of phone-hacking occurred under her leadership.

People were shocked to see her return to News International. Media reform campaigners Hacked Off slammed her return last September.

"This could only happen in a dynastic company where normal rules of corporate governance simply do not apply,” said Evan Harris, joint executive of Hacked Off.

One of the most hurtful front pages
in British newspaper history

As a Liverpool fan, I know all about The Sun and how the tabloid could hurt thousands of people by printing vicious lies. All across Merseyside, people still boycott The Sun as a result of an infamous front page in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.

In a nasty front page piece, the tabloid tried to blame the fans for the deaths of 96 people who went to a football match and never came home.

The Sun claimed the survivors hampered the efforts of the (now disgraced) police to rescue the dead and injured, whereas the fans were the true heroes on a truly awful day.

In Ireland, we already know a lot about billionaire  moguls, who wield their power through media interests.

The country’s leading media owner, Denis O’Brien, was accused of “gagging” free speech and even parliamentary privilege when a member of the Dail attempted to raise concerns about his finances last year.

For a few days in 2015, nobody dared to report on what had been said in our national parliament, after questions were raised about his relationship with IBRC, the State-owned bank.

He even forced the deletion of an article by the nation’s favourite satirical website, Waterford Whispers News.

O’Brien is no ordinary billionaire. He’s the chief shareholder in the country’s largest newspaper group, Independent Newspapers, and owns key news stations including Newstalk and Today FM.
He applied for an injunction to restrain broadcasters from reporting about his dealings with IBRC, arguing that it breached his privacy rights.

Because of the injunction, nobody in Ireland could listen to or read about what Catherine Murphy TD said in the Dail about Mr O’Brien for days.

O’Brien, who lives in Malta for tax purposes, owns 20 national and regional newspapers, but still feels a need to silence those who dare to question his dealings.

In May of this year, it emerged that he had initiated legal proceedings against the former Fianna Fail TD for Galway East, Colm Keaveney.

He’s suing the former TD for defamation arising from a speech by Mr Keaveney which was circulated to a public relations firm.

Referring to a politician as a
"poisonous snake" ... a day's work
at Rupert Murdoch's tabloid.

Let’s not forget that financial dealings involving Mr O’Brien were investigated by the Moriarty Tribunal, which cost the State in excess of €50 million.

It found that Mr O’Brien made payments to former Minister Michael Lowry (FG) which amounted to £447,000 Sterling (€521,000 in today’s money).

As Minister for Communications, Lowry awarded the State’s second mobile phone contract to Mr O’Brien. It was the start of his global media empire.

Given Mr Murdoch’s tendency to influence politicians and Mr O’Brien’s propensity to take legal action against those who question his financial dealings – even in the national parliament – it’s important to ask whether their media empires are good for Irish society.

Yet nobody seemed to be prepared to ask those questions when Mr Murdoch decided to expand his influence in the Republic of Ireland last week.

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Challenging the propaganda machines

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The expression on her face must have hidden how she really felt but, watching it, it was hard not to cringe.

Here was a national newspaper columnist, sitting in on a late night discussion programme All of a sudden, the presenter introduced the subject of the financial wheelings and dealings of the main shareholder in her group of newspapers.

There were four people on the panel, but it was impossible not to focus on her, not to hone in on her facial expressions and every word.

To her credit, she did not look as though she was about to die of embarrassment as she listened earnestly to the comments of the other three guests. Well  used to appearing on TV panel shows, she survived the ordeal with good grace and seemed relatively unscathed.

But it was impossible not to wonder how she must have been feeling inside.

Could she really give her full, honest opinion when her boss has been known to take legal actions against quite a number of journalists?

Was it better just to stare meekly at the floor as each of her colleagues on the panel made some pretty unflattering comments about the power her boss wields in Irish society?

A man with so much power that he almost gagged anyone in the country from reporting on the goings-on in the national parliament throughout the course of the previous weekend.

Even the State TV channel had been gagged.

The question of media ownership in Ireland, or any democracy for that matter, never seemed so pertinent.

And, ironically, one of the main news outlets to expose her proprietor’s misdeeds has a track record of political interference and phone-tapping on the other side of the Irish Sea.

How truthful is the news we receive on our TV screens or daily newspapers when you delve into the interests of those who control the media?

Could the journalist in question really write the truth about her boss when she knows that others have lost their jobs or been quietly moved aside for doing so?

If the Irish Water protests over the past year have taught us anything, it’s that social media can now expose issues which have been either ignored or distorted by the mainstream media.

Why is it that a dozen protesters sitting in front of a Minister’s car can be splashed as an  ‘Attack on Democracy’ across an entire front page?

While, weeks later, when the same newspaper’s major shareholder gags the national parliament the story is buried inside on page 22?

Funny, isn't it, that the man who controls the country's biggest paper also has a financial interest in the installation of water meters? Or is that just a wild coincidence?

When mostly peaceful protesters who are sick of austerity are labelled as the "sinister fringe", people lose trust in the media.

When they know that the main shareholder in the biggest newspaper group is making money from Irish Water, they have a right to question the motivation setting the news agenda.

Over the past eight or nine months, though, people have learned more about Irish Water through Twitter and Facebook than on the main evening news.

When news sources are giving them completely different versions of the same event, they have a right to question what’s going on.

But when an outstanding TD makes some hugely important comments in the national parliament, and virtually nobody has the courage to report what she said, you have to question how democratic the country really is.

An awful lot of people are well aware at this stage that Irish Water is a scam, set up to take money from as many people as possible to pay for the sins of the few.

But you’d never think that if you only relied on RTE or the Sunday Independent for your news.